Justice Is Going to the Dogs
by kuro-kitsune-neko
Summary: While Batman and Superman are away, the kids will play. With their dogs, that is. The senior heroes are off on a mission, leaving Young Justice to care for Ace the Bathound and Krypto the Superdog in their absence.


So, I originally wrote this story as a response to a prompt on the LiveJournal Young Justice: Animated Anonymous Fic Meme, but I've decided to just go ahead and post it here as well. I mean, why not, right? Anyways, enjoy.

**Original Prompt:**

_why is this in my head. _

_batman and superman are out of town/country/earth/galaxy/whatever and someone needs to take care of ace and krypto so they decide to send them to mount justice where the kids will hopefully take care of them._

_dick and ace have your typical kid/dog friendship (getting in trouble together, over protective of each other, etc.), artemis and wally are both cat people so they are not interested in them, m'gann is curious, kaldur is a bit indifferent. as for superboy, well he's just awkward around krypto lol_

_do whatever you want with this anon \o_

* * *

><p>Krypto, to his credit, took quite well to Superboy after some initial confusion. He also took to following Superboy around Mount Justice. And putting his head in Superboy's lap everytime he sat down. And looking to Superboy for permission before accepting treats from the team. Among other things. Superboy was trying to work through his discomfort at this.<p>

Ace, to his credit, had yet to bite anyone. Robin claimed this was a good sign. The others were more reluctant to see this as such.

* * *

><p>When Flash appeared at Mount Justice with Krypto the Superdog and Ace the Bathound in tow, Young Justice was suitably confused. It was explained that Batman and Superman were off planet on an undisclosed mission that was taking longer than expected and someone needed to care for the dogs left behind.<p>

In the back of Dick's mind, he wondered why Alfred wasn't looking after Ace as he usually would, but decided this was just another of Bruce's unusual tests. Evaluating team dynamic thus far by throwing in an unexpected variable, perhaps? He would call Alfred or ask when Bruce returned. With a little luck, he may even get an answer.

Still, unusual or not, the team couldn't complain at their new assignment. At least, not when League ears were nearby.

"Who do they think we are? What are we now, the League's petsitters? Are we going to have to babysit next? We just finished telling Roy we're a team and not a clubhouse last week!"

"Oh, Wally, I wouldn't worry too much. Batman and Superman just needed us to do this as a favour, that's all. Besides, how could you be upset at having such sweet and adorable creatures stay with us?" M'gann scratched Krypto's ears affectionately as she spoke, attention he seemed to enjoy immensely.

Wally found himself torn between his feelings on the matter and going out of his way to impress the object of his affections. Dick felt bad, knowing all about Wally's past experiences with big dogs like these and his preference for cats. In the end, Wally settled for going halfway and pointed towards Ace.

"You call _that_ a sweet and adorable creature? It won't let anyone other than Rob touch it!"

Ace raised his dark head from where he lay near Dick's feet and growled dangerously; Wally flinched away noticeably at the sight of bared teeth. The Great Dane seemed satisfied with this reaction before huffing in what Dick knew to be amusement and lay back down. To all the world, he appeared perfectly innocent and content. Dick giggled and used the toe of his boot to rub at Ace's ribs.

"Man that dog creeps me out." Dick noticed Kaldur's subtle nod of agreement at Wally's statement. He giggled again.

* * *

><p>Superboy watched intently from the couch as Robin wrestled with Ace. The big black dog's teeth were firmly closed around the boy's forearm, but Robin claimed it didn't hurt. Superboy would understand if the other boy were in his Kevlar-enforced uniform rather than civilian clothes, but apparently it just didn't hurt because he and Ace were only playing.<p>

While Superboy did enjoy combat, both on the field and in training (so long as he wasn't losing), he never thought of it as playing. Still, in the near month since his release from Cadmus, he had learned that there were a lot of things that he didn't yet understand about the _real_ world, as Wally put it. To be fair, his exposure to animals thus far was very limited.

For instance, he didn't understand what Krypto was doing right now. He kept running up to where Superboy sat and jumping up and down and side to side before running back to where Robin and Ace continued to wrestle, only to return to Superboy, all the while barking and wagging his tail. Ordinarily, Superboy would assume that that this meant Krypto was trying to tell him to rescue Robin from harm, but Robin had claimed he was unhurt and apparently tail wagging was a sign of happiness. He didn't know what the dog seemed to want. Then again, not understanding the dog had become a common occurrence in the past two days.

Realizing Robin had stopped laughing and Ace no longer growled, Superboy looked up. Robin was propped up on one elbow breathing heavily, trying to push any attempts at face-licking away as he stared at Superboy through his sunglasses.

"Superboy, he wants you to play with him."

Surprised at this revelation, Superboy looked more closely at the white dog before him. Bright eyes stared excitedly up into his own from near the floor boards as that tail kept wagging manically.

Play with the dog? What if he hurt him? Then again, he was supposed to have super strength like any Earth-bound Kryptonian. So, if Earth-Robin was not afraid of hurting his Earth-dog, then Superboy shouldn't worry about hurting a Krypton-dog.

Slowly, cautiously, Superboy slid off the couch and got down on his hands and knees before Krypto and waited for the first move to be made. It wouldn't go amiss if he took things easily, just in case.

It wasn't until after Krypto had tackled him that he realized taking it easy wasn't necessary.

* * *

><p>Megan knew she had been told not to, but she couldn't help wanting to. Those big blue eyes, blue like Superboy's, stared up at her woefully. She forced herself to turn away from him, steeling her will as she continued her task. Work was a good distraction and she had just convinced herself that she <em>would not<em> when Krypto whined. Her concentration broken, she returned her gaze to him and made the mistake of looking into his eyes once more. His eyes were like a magnet, drawing her in. He whined again and out of the corner of her eye, Megan could see a white tail begin to slowly wag as hope lit up those eyes.

She bit her lip and debated. He was just so _cute_—but, no, that shouldn't affect her decision. Robin had explained about dogs upon the arrival of their two charges and he had been clear about what she should not do. She was careful not to pull their tails and when Ace growled, she was sure to give him the space he desired. But this…

Krypto whined again and the last vestiges of her resolve shattered. She glanced around quickly for the presence of her teammates.

"Alright, but only a little bit."

M'gann very carefully used her mixing spoon to scoop out a dollop of the cookie dough she was working on. She laughed happily at the expression of ecstasy that overtook the dog's features as he jumped to brace his paws against her front and lick gleefully at the batter and chocolate presented him.

What her teammates didn't know wouldn't hurt anyone, after all.

* * *

><p>Kaldur was pleased at how things were going so far with the dogs. When the Flash had arrived with them and explained the task assigned to the team, he had the sinking suspicion that most of their care would fall on his shoulders. Fortunately, this was not at all so.<p>

While Wally seemed intent to avoid the animals at all cost and Superboy was only slowly warming up to their presence, Robin was quite capable at caring for them and M'gann was only too eager to learn. This left Kaldur's contact with the dogs minimal, something he was content with.

There was no discontent experienced within him, however, as he sat reading in his room with Ace lying quietly beside him. He turned the page and distractedly scratched the dog's skull before stroking the fur back down. The contact was soothing to the Atlantean and Ace seemed to welcome the occasional attention.

This was not something Kaldur was used to and he certainly wouldn't miss the marginally quieter atmosphere once the dogs departed, but for now it was just fine. As long as nothing happened to disturb the peace of his room.

Kaldur looked up when he heard the door slide open. He had left it ajar after allowing Ace his requested entry in case he wanted to leave again. Now Krypto stood at the entryway and gazed inside. Ace looked his fellow canine square in the eye as the white dog walked further in. Kaldur frowned to notice he was weaving slightly with each step and sat up straighter as Ace stood on his bed. Having just placed down his book to see what was wrong, Kaldur could only watch as Krypto vomited noisily on the floor.

Closing his eyes, the Atlantean male breathed deeply through his mouth to block the worst of the smell that wafted over to him and waited a moment before opening them once more to confirm what he had seen. There, amongst the expulsion, were what Kaldur could distinctly see to be chocolate chips.

With a sigh, Kaldur stood at exited the room to find Robin, who knew much more about dog care then he. Afterwards, he would be sure to speak with M'gann.

* * *

><p>He felt awful. Positively awful.<p>

Megan was crying. And there were no onions in sight.

Tears flowed down her green cheeks as she cut up asparagus for that night's dinner and she sniffled occasionally. Now and then, she would reach up and wipe the tears away, but it did nothing to stop their flow.

Wally sped over to her side and touched her arm.

"Megan, what's wrong?"

The Martian girl responded with another sniffle and wiped again at her eyes. She stood there for a moment before turning to bury her face in his chest and wrap her arms around him. Wally's thoughts travelled quickly from shock, to "Score!", and back to the matter at hand. He returned her hug and held her tight.

"Hey, it's okay."

"No, it's not," Megan bawled, "Robin told me not to, but I did it anyway and I shouldn't have! And then Kaldur came by and told me what happened and I feel so bad! It's all my fault."

Wally's mind blurred through a hundred different possibilities, but most came back to something that brought a pit of ice settling in his stomach. Something had happened to Dick.

"It's all my fault Krypto got sick."

Oh. Well. That wasn't anywhere near as upsetting. Wally turned his focus to consoling and assuring his someday-girlfriend that she was not a bad person, the mutt would be fine, etc.

* * *

><p>Having returned to Earth, the assembled members of the League were relieved that rest was in sight. For most of them, in any case.<p>

The team gratefully stepped off the Javelin 7 and headed for either the showers or Zeta Beam Teleporters. Batman and Superman both had home on their minds, but communications with Flash on the way to the Watchtower left them with one more task for the day.

Once their molecules reassembled within Mount Justice, the two heroes made their way through the mountain base in search of their respective dogs. Eventually coming to a stop in the common area, Superman could only stare as he watched Superboy help Robin force-feed Krypto some drops.

"What's going on?"

The team looked up, most only just now realizing they had company. Batman noticed Miss Martian wince and curl in on herself. Ace padded over with the appearance of calm, but his excitedly wagging tail belied this. Under the cover of his cape, Batman scratched his canine companion fondly behind the ears, keeping his attention on Superman and the team.

Superboy looked uncomfortable at Superman's intense scrutiny and removed his grip from Krypto and turned away. He only seemed mildly surprised when the Kryptonian canine whined and slipped his head pitifully between Superboy's hand and knee.

Kaldur stood gracefully and took a few steps forward to take the situation in hand.

"Our apologies, Superman. I'm afraid Krypto got into some food he should not have eaten and became ill. Robin was trying to give him something to soothe his stomach with Superboy's help."

Batman did not wonder how Krypto had "gotten into" said food as Miss Martian tightened her hold of her stomach and pointedly avoided looking at the two senior heroes.

"I see. Well, I wouldn't worry too much then; this dog's survived worse. Krypto, here boy."

Superman held out one hand and waited. Krypto looked behind him and saw his beloved master standing there. He stood and turned to obey before faltering. After a moment's hesitation, he licked Superboy from chin to hairline and left the clone in shock as he came to Superman's side. Once there, he rubbed his head against the extended hand.

"You know better than that," Batman could hear Superman murmur, "Stop trying to eat everything you see."

Batman irritably wondered when he would start showing affection to the clone who came suddenly into his life as he did the dog who similarly one day dropped out of the blue. He could only imagine the arguments the Man of Steel would come up with if he said as much out loud.

"Robin."

"Coming, Batman."

Robin tucked the bottle of drops into the pocket of his jeans and followed his mentor with Ace at his side as Superman thanked the team for caring for the dogs.

* * *

><p>He told himself that it had nothing to do with Batman's pointed glare on the way out of Mount Justice that day or the incessant prodding the caped crusader had delivered since the Independence Day fiasco. He told himself that it had nothing to do with his own frustration over his inability to look the clone—the boy in the eye. He told himself it had nothing to do with living up to the image he had created for himself.<p>

He told himself these things because they were not good enough reasons for him to go to Mount Justice for a casual visit so far and they wouldn't work now.

The deciding factor ended up being Krypto.

Superboy stood before him in the Mount Justice common area trying not to look at the man he had been cloned from or pet the dog jumping around him in uncontainable joy out of reflex. Clearly he was still upset about the brush off he had received in Metropolis only two days previous. Superman was pretty sure he didn't blame him, but refused to wince at his own actions.

"He wanted to see you again."

"Oh."

He continued to stand there, not looking at Superman, who had to resist the urge to leave right then. He wouldn't, though, because Superman never ran from a challenge. He also ignored the small part of his mind that pointed out he'd run from the same challenge twice in as many months.

"Would you like to take him out with me?" Superboy glanced over, but looked away again when they made eye contact. "I think some fresh air and a chance to stretch his legs might calm him down."

There was a long pause and Superman's palms began to sweat just a little. This was it, he'd missed his chance to make things right, but then his hearing detected the smallest "Ok" and he breathed a sigh of relief.

As the two made their way to the exit, Superman struggled with his mind to provide some topic of conversation. Finally he hit on one and started out with it before he could tell himself it was not an appropriate topic.

"Black Canary tells me you still haven't chosen a name for yourself. If you'd like, I'd be happy to help you think of some."

Superman couldn't tell what it was that ran through Superboy's eyes in that moment as they locked gazes once more, but he could recognize a smile when he saw one.

"Sure"

Krypto barked his own approval as he flew up to lick each of the duo's faces.


End file.
